January 24, 2011

Another Bloom Story

There's a new Press Release from Bloom Energy about the Bloom ElectronsTM program they started. Instead of paying big money up front to buy a Bloom Box [a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), running on natural gas], you can sign up for a 10-year lease and "... pay only for the electricity consumed ...". On the positive side, you now have a known price for much of your electricity supply (without tying down your natural gas price,) which is good. Also, you get the kudos of friends and neighbors for being an early adopter of Green Energy.

What I don't like is their somewhat deceptive advertising that you can pick one up and only "pay only for the electricity consumed." People are going to be saddened when they investigate and see that, just like cogeneration systems (and many other energy-saving technologies), it only pays to base-load a Bloom Box. Peak electric power will still need to be bought from the local electric utility. Of course, this non-base-loaded power is a large fraction of most customer's total annual electricity needs. So Bloom Electrons users will not generally be totaly green customers.